Investment products
Over 13,100 (14% of total) enquiries were made about investment products, nearly 60% of which were from those over the age of 55.
Binary options are the largest product category within investment products, accounting for 17% of enquiries.
Binary options are a form of bet where a customer tries to predict the outcome of events in financial markets. For example, whether a company’s stock price or a foreign exchange rate will rise or fall over a defined (often very short) period.
Most of the calls to the FCA were to verify whether firms offering binary options are regulated.
The FCA does not currently regulate binary options as they are classified as gambling products rather than financial ones.
Other product types that received a lot of enquiries were shares (14%), Forex (13%) and bonds (10%).
